Added Element in Asia: Confucius

By BARBARA CROSSETTE, Special to the New York Times

Published: June 28, 1987

SINGAPORE—
As students take to the streets of South Korea, social campaigners go to jail in Singapore and politicians in China wrestle over a path to development, many East Asians are re-examining in an age of turbulence the clear-headed teachings of an ancient sage: Confucius.

The director of the Institute of East Asian Philosophies here and head of a national Committee on Confucian Ethics, Wu Teh Yao, says he does not find this surprising. Professor Wu, a Chinese-born scholar in his 70's, tasted the learning of West and East before focusing on the study of a political system close to his roots.

''Confucianism is neither a philosophy nor a religion - though it has the elements of both,'' he said in an interview at his National University of Singapore office. ''It is a way of life.''

As such, he said, a study of Confucianism can serve Asians struggling to weigh Western values against their own beliefs and Westerners trying to understand the philosophical underpinnings of East Asia.

Though Confucius was born in the sixth century B.C., his thoughts, collected by disciples in the Analects, have refreshing relevance, Professor Wu said. Confucianism is a humanistic system, devoted to man's relationship to man, not to God. It emphasizes harmony with nature, respects intellect and education and cautions against greed and corruption, although not frowning on the accumulation of wealth. 'We Are Tolerant'

''If you were to piece it all together, you would find it is an all-pervading unity,'' he said. ''There is no supernatural, no required ritual, no credo to embrace.

''I am a Christian and a Presbyterian elder,'' Professor Wu said, but I am also a Confucian disciple.''

''Take a man like Zhou Enlai,'' he added. ''He was a Communist; there is no doubt. But inside - in his behavior - he was very Confucian.''

Professor Wu, who writes about Confucianism for English-speaking audiences and supervises the translation of Chinese classics into bei hua, a simplified, modern Chinese, says he believes the purest forms of Confucianism are found in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

Interest is also picking up in China, he said. Plans for Conference in China

On Aug. 31, Professor Wu and more than a hundred experts from around the world are to meet at the birthplace of Confucius, in Qufu, China, for a four-day conference on the development of Confucian learning and its influence on society.

''The study of Confucius has never stopped in China,'' said Professor Wu, a graduate of Nanking University who also has an M.A. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a Ph.D. from Harvard.

''During the Cultural Revolution, scholars may have been put on ice,'' he said, ''but they were often allowed free time to do their research. They put it in writing afterwards. We have an academic gold mine there now.''

Apart from its relevance to Asian tradition, Confucianism is also being studied, Professor Wu said, ''to counterbalance the impact of values from the West, particularly those of rights and individualism.''

''The Confucian system stresses obligations, not rights, and group spirit, not individualism,'' said Professor Wu. But that does not mean it condones authoritarianism or militarism, he added. If a leader loses the people's trust, the right to rule is forfeited, he said.

''In all human societies, once the tummy is full, you begin to think,'' said Professor Wu, adding that a paper was now being written at the institute on the place of protest in a Confucian society.

''So, whoever is going to rule, even in Japan or China, will have to pay attention to the people's needs and wishes,'' he said. ''That goes back basically to the trust of the people. In a modern sense, that is the expression of democracy.''